Birmingham City plot move to hijack Derby County's Ipswich Town transfer | OneFootball

Birmingham City are interested in Ipswich Town's Sammie Szmodics, who is in advanced talks to join Derby County.

Birmingham City are hoping for a productive window as they try to close the gap on the play-off places, as a minimum, this season.

After their record-breaking title win in League One, many observers expected Blues to go for successive promotions last season, but Chris Davies’ side struggled to sustain a push for the top six.

There were obvious reasons for that, with Birmingham’s away form a major concern, whilst they also lacked goals in the final third.

Action images

Only Jay Stansfield and Marvin Ducksch hit double figures for Blues, with the duo finding the net ten times in the league. Therefore, adding more firepower is going to be one of the priorities for Davies and the recruitment team going into the window.

Birmingham trying to hijack Derby County move for Sammie Szmodics

Even though he didn’t make the impact many expected, the departure of Kyogo Furuhashi to LA Galaxy has freed up some space in the Blues squad, as well as taking what was likely to be a considerable salary off the books.

And, it appears Birmingham are already in the market for a new attacker, as journalist Alex Jones revealed that Ipswich Town’s Sammie Szmodics is a target for the Midlands outfit.

It had been claimed the Irish international was in advanced talks to rejoin Derby County, having spent the second half of last season on loan at Pride Park. However, whilst there is interest from the Rams, Blues are looking to muscle in and bring Szmodics to St. Andrew’s.

The 30-year-old managed just three goals in 13 appearances for Derby, which came on the back of one in 16 for Ipswich, so it was a difficult campaign for the player.

Nevertheless, Szmodics has proven himself to be a very good option at this level over the years, and his best individual season undoubtedly came in 2023/24, where he scored 27 times for Blackburn.

Sammie Szmodics would add experience and know-how to Birmingham City’s attack

This wouldn’t be the most eye-catching transfer that Blues have made in recent windows, but that’s not to say it couldn’t turn out to be a shrewd bit of business.

Firstly, Szmodics is capable of playing in different attacking positions. He is at his best just off a striker, but he can play up top if needed, and he is also capable of starting out wide and offering a goal threat by cutting in.

As well as that, he knows exactly what the Championship is about, and perhaps one criticism of Blues’ attacking additions in the past 12 months is that they’ve needed time to settle, and things haven’t always gone to plan.

In Szmodics, they would be getting a player that should be able to hit the ground running, and if Davies could get him back to the sort of form he had displayed with Blackburn, it would be a real coup for Birmingham.

From Szmodics’ perspective, the chance to join Blues will obviously appeal, but we know he has a close relationship with John Eustace, which could give Derby the edge.

Either way, he needs to be playing regularly, so a move from Portman Road is inevitable, and he will be determined to get back to his best after a frustrating season last time out.